Sunday, September 25, 2016

I have a special request. Most of my readers know that I lived in Ecuador for two years. We made many friends, both expats and locals during our time there. Not too long after we returned to the US, Ecuador suffered devastating earthquakes on the coast.

A devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake has struck Ecuador resulting in death and massive destruction. Among the most impacted towns is Canoa, Manabi; just a few miles off the epicenter of the earthquake, leaving it 90% destroyed.

Our good friend Sara Coppler, who has experience in disaster relief, relocated from Cuenca to Canoa to aid in the recovery. You can read more about her efforts here. Other friends aided in the initial relief efforts by collecting food, money and clothing.

But the need will go on for a long time. Author Scarlett Braden, a close friend, came up with the idea of creating an anthology of stories written about expats by expats with 100% of the proceeds going to benefit Proyecto Saman, a project that provides housing and a safe living environment for people whose lives were shattered by the earthquakes.

Many of my expat friends have written non-fiction accounts of their encounters and a few more have written short fiction stories. For those interested, I have an unusual short fiction story that differs from most. I hope you enjoy mine and all the others.

If you can't buy the book, I hope you will tell all your friends about this extraordinary effort (and share this blog post). I bought it and I will be gifting a couple of copies as well. Thank you!